Patents Represented by Attorney, Agent or Law Firm Mallinckrodt & Mallinchrodt
  • Patent number: 6298010
    Abstract: The invention relates to device serving as an orientation aid for blind and visually disabled, comprising at least one contactless distance measurement system (1,2) which provides correcting variables depending on the distance between the device and an object detected by the distance measurement system (1,2). At least one indicating device is also provided, which is impinged upon by the correcting variable of the distance measurement system (1,2) and which supplies an indication depending on the correcting variable. The indicating device comprises at least one tactile indicator (3) which is continuously or quasi-continuously displaced along a tactile path as monotone function of the distance measured by the distance measurement system (1,2). The tactile indicator can, for instance, comprise an adjustable element (3). The user can thus feel the distance measured by touching the position of the displaceable element (3).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 1999
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2001
    Inventors: Maria Ritz, Lutz König, Ludger Wöste